Joseph w



(SpecihiensJ J. W. WHITE.

WIRE CLOTH FOR PAPER MAOHINES.

No. 512,347.' 1 "Patented Jan. 9, 1894'.

U ITED STATES Fries,

PATENT JOSEPH IV. WHITE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THEW. S. TYLER WIRE WORKS *COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WIRE-CLOTH FOR PAPER-MACHINES.

QPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,347, dated January9, 189%.

Application filed July 9, 1892. Serial No. 439.502. ($pecimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH W. WHITE,,Of Cleveland, in the county ofCuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Wire- Cloths for Paper- Machines; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itpertains to make and use the same.

In manufacturing paper by the well known Fourdrmier process the pulp isdischarged upon an apron and from thence is evenly distributed over thesurface of an endless wire cloth, the latter being mounted on rollers,and having a slow movement lengthwise and the water of the liquid pulppercolates through the meshes of Wire cloth, leaving a uniform layer ofpulp on the surface of the wire cloth. If the meshes of the wire clothwere not uniform the layer of pulp would not be uniform for the reasonthat when the finer meshes occurred, less water would be discharged andconsequently less pulp would be deposited.

and where the meshes were too coarse, likewise the pulp would, by a toofree discharge of water be drawn into such coarse meshes, so that thelayer of pulp would not readily separate from the wire cloth. However,when the wire cloth is skillfully manufactured there are not likely tobe formed any inequalities in the meshes thereof. The difficultyencountered is in so uniting the ends of the cloth, that, at the unionor seam the meshes will so nearly approximate the meshes throughout thefabric, that the deposit of pulp at and adjacent the seam will besubstantially the same as on other parts of the wire cloth, so that nothin spots or imperfections in the paper will accrue by reason of theseam or joint in the wire cloth. Preparatory to making such joint,splice or seam the respective ends of the wire cloth are overcast, finewire being used for the purpose, and this wire, in overcasting is passedthrough-the meshes, successively back of the first, second, third andfourth filling wires from the end, so that the filling wires at the endof the wire olotlr are firmly bound together to withstand the strain ofthe lacing in uniting the ends of the Wire cloth, to constitute anendless band or apron. Next, the

end sections of the wire cloth are laid together flatwise with the endsthereof flush with each other and in such position the two ends areovercast or laced at one operation to permanently unite the ends of thewire cloth. Care must be taken that the two ends of the wire cloth benot drawn too closely together; otherwise the opposing ends of the warpwire, if, brought into close relation with each other, when the seampasses around the rollers, these opposing wire ends will engage eachother, and if such were the case, the engaging wire ends would soonbecome bent so that they would protrude from the surface of the wirecloth, in which case the pulp would adhere to these protruding wire endsand would not easily separate from the wire cloth. On the other hand ifthe ends of the wire cloth are sufficiently separated to prevent thedifficulty just mentioned, it will be found that the two filling wiresnext adjacent the splice, will be about twice the distance apart thatthe other next adjacent filling wires are separated, in other words thatthe meshes at the splice Will be too large. An extra filling wire mightbe inserted at the splice in which case another difficulty arises fromother causes which I will next mention.

In practice the lacing wires are usually only say from twenty four tothirty inches long, and the tail end of each lacing wire to the extentof three or four inches is left for handling, so that each lacing wireonly laces a short distance along the seam; hence in lacing a seam eightor ten feet long, or whatever may be the width of the Wire cloth, alarge number of these lacing wires are employed, and as the ends ofthese lacing wires must be fastened, the successive lacing wires arefastened together, and for convenience I will call such fasteningsknots, whether the wires are tied, looped or twisted together, and theseknots are afterward flattened, to conform to the surface of the fabric.Wherever these knots occur in conjunction with a continuous extrafilling wire, such extra filling wire and the knot will substantiallyfill the meshes atand next adjacent the knot, in which case but littlepulp would be deposited at and in the immediate vicinity of the knot,and the result would be that a row of thin spots in the paper wouldappear corresponding with the row of knots along the seam, and when thepaper was cut to lengths the sheets bearing such thin spots would bethrown out as waste material. To avoid this difiiculty, instead of usinga continuous extra filling wire,

short pieces of wire may be used for the pure pose, these short piecesextending only from knot to knot of the lacing wire and in no caseextending past a knot. Where a knot occurred, it would serve in place ofan extra filling wire to reduce the size of the mesh. Vhen the work isskillfully done the meshes at the seam, are so nearly like the meshes atother parts of the fabric that the paper presents a uniform appearancethroughout. It will be understood that the extra filling wire or wireswould be embraced by the lacing, and thus held in place. If howeverthese short filling wires were not fastened at either end, some of themmight eventually work endwise.

I have overcome the difficulty in the following manner, to wit: Iutilize the waste end of each lacing wire, for an extra filling wire toreach from thence to the next knot in thelacing,where such fillingwireis sheared off, the successive waste ends of the lacing wires being thusused through the splice or seam. In this manner the filling wires do notextend past the knots and each filling wire being fastened at the oneend thereof can not move endwise and all of this is accomplished withoutusing any extra knots.

The accompanying drawing is an enlarged plan showing a portion of theseam uniting what are supposed to be the two ends of the wire cloth.

A A represent the two end sections of a wire cloth and a a represent thewires used in overcasting the respective ends of the wire clothpreparatory to lacing the ends of the fabric together and b c (1represent lacing wires. A short piece of wire 6 is supposed to have beenfastened to the wire cloth at the margin of the latter and the lacingwire 6 is supposed to have been fastened in like manner. The lacing wireI) when in position embraces the wire 6 and confines the latter withinthe seam. When wire I) is used up in lacing as short as is convenient tohandle, it is fastened at b to the next lacing wire 0 and the remnant ortail end of wire 1) is laid in the seam as at b and wire e is clippedoff at knot 79 In like manner the short extra filling wire I) justmentioned is clipped off at knot c where lacing wires 0 and d arefastened together, after which the tip end of wire 0 is laid in the seamas at c and so on through the scam, the successive lacing wires beingfastened together, and each lacing wire in turn contributing its tailend for a short extra filling wire, such extra filling wires extendingonly from one knot to the next ad acent knot of the lacing wires and inno case extending past a knot.

What I claim is-- 1. As an improved article of manufacture, a wire clothhaving its ends laced together, the lacing wires being fastened andfilling wires inserted in the seaming and extending between thefastenings, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the end sections of a wire cloth, of thesuccessivelacing wires, the free waste end of each lacing being insertedin the seam,substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification, in the presence of twowitnesses, this 30th day of June, 1892.

JOSEPH W. \VHITE.

Witnesses:

J. F. WENDT, E. J. THOBABEN.

